Misinformation and News Feed Visibility

Algorithms are used in social media platforms like Facebook to select what to make most visible in people’s news feeds, reinforcing what they already consume based on their profile and interests. This can be gamed to deliberately show misleading information to serve various agendas.

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The Misinformation Edition of the Glass Room

The Misinformation Edition of the Glass Room is an online version of a physical exhibition that explores different types of misinformation, teaches people how to recognise it and combat its spread.

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Deepfakes and Disinformation

Earlier this month, in the aftermath of a decisive yet contested election, MediaJustice, in partnership with MediaJustice Network member WITNESS, brought together nearly 30 civil society groups, researchers, journalists, and organizers to discuss the impacts visual disinformation has had on institutions and information systems. Deepfakes and disinformation can be used in used in racialised disinformation […]

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‘Fake news’: Incorrect, but hard to correct. The role of cognitive ability on the impact of false information on social impressions

The present experiment examined how people adjust their judgment after they learn that crucial information on which their initial evaluation was based is incorrect. In line with our expectations, the results showed that people generally do adjust their attitudes, but the degree to which they correct their assessment depends on their cognitive ability. A study […]

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Google think tank’s report on white supremacy says little about YouTube’s role in people driven to extremism

A Google-funded report examines the relationship between white supremacists and the internet, but it makes scant reference—all of it positive—to YouTube, the company’s platform that many experts blame more than any other for driving people to extremism. YouTube’s algorithm has been found to direct users to extreme content, sucking them into violent ideologies.

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Is Facebook Doing Enough To Stop Racial Bias In AI?

After recently announcing Equity and Inclusion teams to investigate racial bias across their platforms, and undergoing a global advertising boycott over alleged racial discrimination, is Facebook doing enough to tackle racial bias? Disinformation driven via bots that game the AI systems of social media platforms to reinforce racial myths and attitudes as well as the […]

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Discrimination through optimization: How Facebook’s ad delivery can lead to skewed outcomes

The enormous financial success of online advertising platforms is partially due to the precise targeting features they offer. Although researchers and journalists have found many ways that advertisers can target – or exclude – particular groups of users seeing their ads, comparatively little attenti… Ad-delivery is controlled by the advertising platform (eg. Facebook) and researchers […]

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